Lightning ’s days seem to be number . The company ’s iPad range , which has been be active from Lightning to USB - nose candy since 2018 , is expected tocomplete that transitionlater this year ; and the iPhone scope will reportedlybegin its own change - overin 2023 .
But the Lightning monetary standard is n’t confine to the iPhone and iPad , and doubts remain over Apple ’s plan for the larboard on sure add-on – such as the AirPods charging example . Every AirPods case released so far has feature a Lightning port , but that could soon change , according to analyst Ming - Chi Kuo . In a tweet post this week , the reputable analyst predicts that all AirPods model will get cases with a USB - C charging larboard in 2023 .
What he is less sure about is thesecond - gen AirPods Pro , which are carry to launch before the end of 2022 . That manakin , which has been bruit for more than a year , could come too soon for the USB - C switch - over , Kuo monish . His tweet entail that Apple may launch a new USB - C example for the Pros next year , but it ’s arguable whether customers who buy this year will experience like paying more money next twelvemonth for a subject that functionally is n’t specially dissimilar .
When Apple launch the third - coevals AirPods last descent , it also updated the AirPods Pro event with MagSafe charging without changing the earbuds .
A move to USB - C also raises further questions about one member of Apple ’s wireless headphone kitchen stove that charges directly rather than via a case : theAirPods Max .
These headphones also feature a Lightning bill port wine make into one of the spike cups – a charge port , incidentally , that on our review sample is partially hold back by an badly - meet cover . We suspect that Apple will replace this Lightning larboard with USB - C if and when it release a second - gen version of the AirPods Max .
Mark Gurman has predicted that Apple willlaunch fresh Max colorsthis fall , whether that ’s alongside theiPhone 14 in September or at a disjoined Mac / iPad event the undermentioned month , but it ’s undecipherable whether that will be go with by any Modern features or the sort of broader redesign that could encompass a switch to USB - C.
